1. What did the science fiction writer John Scalzi say about the End Times in his tweet?

2. What do scientists say about destructive hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes?

3. Why are some people looking to more than science for an explanation about the increase in natural disasters and their severity?

4. How does Richard Hecht, a professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, explain “end of times fantasies?”

5. What, on the whole, do the other religious scholars quoted in the article make of the increase in severe natural disasters?

Finally, tell us more about what you think:

To what do you attribute the increase in frequency and severity of natural disasters? Are you superstitious, or do you find solace in scientific explanations? Does your thinking incorporate both science and mystical aspects? Why or why not?

Do you agree with Christiana Zenner Peppard, an associate professor of theology at Fordham, who said that no matter what people might think about a confluence of disastrous events, “humans are capable of foreseeing and planning for predictable kinds of outcome — flooding and water scarcity among them. To pretend that it’s such a tragedy is to pretend that there’s no social and collective responsibility for the outcome.” Why or why not?